On Tue, Mar 9, 2021 at 12:52 PM Derrick Stolee <stolee@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > On 2/24/2021 2:11 PM, Martin Ågren wrote: > > On Wed, 24 Feb 2021 at 00:57, Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget > > <gitgitgadget@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >> +that is not completely understood by other tools. Enabling sparse index > >> +enables the `extensions.spareseIndex` config value, which might cause > > > > s/sparese/sparse > > Thanks! > > > >> +other tools to stop working with your repository. If you have trouble with > >> +this compatibility, then run `git sparse-checkout sparse-index disable` to > >> +remove this config and rewrite your index to not be sparse. > > > > While I'm commenting on this..: > > > > There are several "layers" here, for lack of a better term. "Enabling foo > > enables bar which may cause baz. If you fail due to baz, try dropping > > bar by dropping foo." If I remove any mention of the config variable from > > your text, I get the following. > > > > Enabling sparse index might cause other tools to stop working with your > > repository. If you have trouble with this compatibility, then run `git > > sparse-checkout sparse-index disable` to rewrite your index to not be > > sparse. > > > > I'm tempted to suggest such a rewrite to relieve readers of knowing of > > the middle step, which you could say is more of an implementation > > detail. But if we think that the symptoms / error messages might involve > > "extensions.sparseIndex" or, as would be the case with an older Git > > installation, > > > > fatal: unknown repository extensions found: > > sparseindex > > > > maybe there is some value in mentioning the config item by name. Just > > thinking out loud, really, and I don't have any strong opinion. I only > > came here to point out the typo in the docs. > > I agree that the layers are confusing. We could rearrange and have > a similar flow to what you recommend by mentioning the extension at > the end: > > **WARNING:** Using a sparse index requires modifying the index in a way > that is not completely understood by other tools. If you have trouble with > this compatibility, then run `git sparse-checkout sparse-index disable` to > rewrite your index to not be sparse. Older versions of Git will not > understand the `sparseIndex` repository extension and may fail to interact > with your repository until it is disabled. > > Thanks, > -Stolee This looks pretty good to me, but could we change the first sentence to read "...modifying the index in a way that may not yet be understood by external tools." ? I'm worried "other tools" might make people worry about different builtin commands (e.g. fast-export, log). I also prefer "may" and "yet" because I suspect most external tools (e.g. git filter-repo just to name a personal example) won't need to read an index format and will thus be unaffected, and any tools that do read the index format will probably eventually learn how to work with the new format.
